LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- What we learned as No. 8 Louisville stormed to a 73-57 victory Saturday over 24th-ranked Notre Dame in a game that clinched a share of the Big East title for the Cardinals:

Big East’s best chance

Louisville obviously did not win the regular-season Big East title alone, and it will not have the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament. But the team best equipped to win one last NCAA championship for the “old” Big East is relative newcomer Louisville.

The Big East won NCAA championships in 1984 (Georgetown), 1985 (Villanova), 2003 (Syracuse) and 1999, 2004 and 2011 (Connecticut). The Cardinals joined the league in 2005. They reached one Final Four as a member, in 2012, and claimed the second of their two national championships in 1986 as a member of the Metro Conference.

With the Big East announcing a split Friday, with the Catholic basketball-first schools retaining the Big East name and football-playing holdovers such as UConn, Cincinnati and South Florida calling themselves America 12 or something, this will be its last dance.

What makes Louisville the league’s best chance is the usual assortment of essential championship elements: A solid point guard (Peyton Siva), size in the frontcourt, players who can generate quality attempts late in the shot-clock, some NBA-level talent and a defense that works.

Louisville is ranked the No. 1 most efficient defense and the No. 20 offense. Both put the Cards in the range that annually produces champions. Every champion since Ken Pomeroy began compiling these stats in 2003 has ranked in the top 20 in both categories. Big East co-champs Georgetown (77 on offense) and Marquette (50th on defense) don’t fit by those standards.

Dieng means goodbye?

In the Senior Day ceremony that followed the game, Louisville center Gorgui Dieng thanked the audience at the KFC Yum! Center -- remarkably, nearly everyone in the audience stayed -- for his experience as a member of the Cardinals.

It did not seem that he quite committed to this being his final home game as a member of the Cardinals, but coach Rick Pitino has not been shy about acknowledging there’s a good chance Dieng will file for 2013 NBA Draft. Given that reality, Pitino wanted Dieng’s contributions to be acknowledged.

"He's really just scratching the surface of what he can be,” Pitino said Saturday. “If you give him a move, he learns in a very short time."

Dieng is the apparent pro who could elevate the Cardinals to an NCAA title, and he was doing all sorts of things Saturday that would make the NBA want him. Dieng finished the game with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, including a beauty of a jump-hook from the right baseline and a foul-line jumper, both in the second half. He grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked five shots -- the kinds of things a big man does.

He also executed two beautiful passes from the high post, one of which became an assist and the other drawing a foul.

Folks, Dieng is not just a tall guy learning the game. He is a basketball player now.

He is projected as a late first-round pick by DraftExpress.com, but it seems likely that will change if he performs in the NCAA Tournament as he did here against Notre Dame.

Siva has his swagger back

With 18:40 left in the game, Siva picked up a ball screen just above the left elbow, but the best avenue toward the goal was blocked, so he quickly spun away from the defender and into the lane. That alone would have been a heck of a play, but it wouldn’t have counted for much without what came next.

As he came to a stop facing the goal, Siva spotted wing Wayne Blackshear free along the left baseline. Siva immediately floated a pass, which Blackshear grabbed and tossed in the goal as he was fouled, earning an and-one opportunity for the Louisville.

That three-point play lifted the Cardinals’ lead to 40-29.

As he saw Blackshear score, Siva shook his fist while spinning again, this time toward the baseline -- and directly into the face of one of the three referees. Siva patted the ref and flashed a giant smile and returned to greet his teammates.

Since a scoreless 23 minutes in a narrow road loss at Georgetown that was followed by a less consequential 1-of-7 evening in a home win over Pitt, Siva gradually has begun to play the way he was expected to play all season. He finished the ND game with 13 points, five assists and only two turnovers, making 3-of-6 from 3-point range.

He still can be a liability against a good zone defense -- 0-for-8 on 3-pointers at Syracuse last weekend -- but so long as Siva manages to stay out of trouble he’s doing a terrific job of managing games.

"He's the most unbelievable young man to ever put on our uniform," Pitino said of Siva.

ND missed Biedscheid

The late-game fight that developed in ND’s most recent game, an easy victory over St. John’s, cost them an important weapon against Louisville’s zone.

It’s unlikely that Cameron Biedscheid would have been the difference; after all, he was scoreless against the Red Storm in 10 minutes. But he did score 14 in the marathon game against Louisville in February. With the Irish finishing 5-of-19 from 3-point range Saturday, another long-distance shooter couldn’t have hurt.